Saturday, October 29th – Service To God Comes After Salvation

At the beginning of his Christian pilgrimage, Saul who was to become Paul, asked, “Lord, what will you have me to do?” This question was the expression of the surrender of his heart to the complete sovereignty of Jesus Christ. He came to the end of his journey with the great consciousness that he had let the Lord have his way in his life.

When the vessel was marred in the hand of the potter, Jeremiah saw him crush it and make another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. If you have failed to cooperate with the divine Potter, it is not too late for you to be made into a useful vessel if you will yield to him and let His will be your will in all ways.

Having just received the Lord Jesus as his Saviour from sin, an enthusiastic young boy blurted out, “Now what do I do? What’s next?” He had the right idea; although nothing further had to be done to receive salvation, there was much more to do to serve God.

The Bible, in Ephesians 2:8-9, makes it crystal clear that we are saved by grace through faith. We could never do anything to deserve salvation. The best we have to offer is not good enough to meet the Lord’s holy standards. We experience forgiveness of sin, find peace with God, have the promise of heaven, and become possessors of everlasting life by trusting the Lord Jesus and Him alone. It is impossible for anyone to earn these favours.

Following conversion, however, we should respond as that young boy and the apostle Paul did, “Now what do I do? What’s next?” Immediately after stating that we are not saved by works, Ephesians 2 tells us, “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (v.10).

First there’s faith, then comes service. We believe to become Christians. We serve because we have been saved. We cannot work for salvation, but salvation is followed by good works.